The Reasons Why
by Rosetta Stone
Summary: Written before book Six came out, but I like it anyway and I'm posting it because certain people are still alive. Snape has a daughter, and a past no one knew about. She comes to Hogwarts,makes friends with Harry and the others, and finds passion too.


It was an absolutely, horrible day in London, England. Rain streamed from the sullen sky without end. The chill wind blew mercilessly at those who were unfortunate enough to be walking the flooded streets. The clouds loomed darkly overhead; black and oppressive, successfully lowering everyone's spirits. This was the autumn season in England. Oh joy of joys.

People flocked to and from the train station in a hurried manner, trying to get where ever they were going as quickly as they could, with as little human contact as possible. These were dangerous times, though no one was sure why, it was just something in the air, a silent warning. It would make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Inside, the train station was surprisingly hot, crowded with an immense number of irritated people bustling about. Among this group of English men and women, were two American girls, weaving about, looking as cross as everyone else.

"This has _got_ to be _the_ most miserable place I've _ever_ been! We've been here a week and it's done nothing but rain!" complained the taller of the two girls, darkly.

They both looked relatively normal, though on one trolley was a caged owl, and on the other was a crated cat with knowing gold eyes. Their belongings were packed in old steamer trunks, which was odd enough, brass fittings and all. The shorter of the two, though not by much, nodded in agreement, her usually bright nature subdued by the weather and overly rude people.

"Muggles.." snorted the first, Luana in disgust, "They're crawling all over. How can the train to Hogwarts be anywhere _near_ here?" She glared menacingly at all those around her, as if daring them to challenge her right to be there. The other girl, Jessalyn, sighed tiredly. "You're _not_ helping; and don't call them Muggles, they might hear you and get suspicious."

"Since when did you care about making a scene in front of them?"

"Since we got kicked out of our old school and had to enroll in a whole other country!" Jessalyn snapped. Luana muttered something derogatory under her breath. "_What_ did I just say about you not helping the situation?"

The darker girl rolled her eyes in annoyance but refrained from making anymore comments. Instead; she pulled her headphones on and turned up her cd player, blasting EMINEM into her ears, and the surrounding area for that matter. She hoped some of these stuffy English types heard it and became offended, as the lyrics were quite explicit and she was in the mood to honk someone off. People shoved their way past, without so much as a "please" or an "excuse me" uttered. When one, particularly nasty bugger knocked Jessalyn to her knees, she was hard pressed to keep her companion from attacking.

"Luana Zemirah Snape! Don't you dare do a thing! The Ministry here is incredibly more strict than back home!"

"I don't give a good god-damn! I'll flail him alive with my bare hands if I have to!" Luana bit out harshly.

Jessalyn gave her a serious look, which Luana returned with a hard one of her own. They glared at each other in this manner for sometime, still walking with their trolleys, until someone else slammed into them, this time much more violently.

"Bloody hell!"

"Ron! Watch your mouth!"

"Why don't you tell _them_ to watch where they're going?" came yet a third voice.

"_You_ ran into _us_, moron!" Jessalyn pointed out.

"_You_ were standing in the middle of the blasted walkway! Who are you calling moron anyway?" came the first that spoke, the red-headed young man named Ron.

"I'll call you something much worse if you don't get off of me!" snarled Luana, pushing one of them off of herself and her friend. The one with dark hair and glasses went tumbling into Jessa's lap and Luana wasn't pleased at all with the situation.

A pile of angry teenagers had been the product of the rather bone-jarring crash of the luggage trolleys. The first guy, the one called Ron, had a charming face and freckles that seemed to be fading as adulthood took over his features. He was tall and fit, hardly the boy he once was, but he hadn't left childhood entirely yet. The other young man was tall and almost gangly, except that he had quite a bit of muscle to him as well, bordering on powerful as opposed to gawky. He had unruly black hair and emerald eyes, in front of which glasses hung, rather crookedly. He wore a bemused expression, which quickly changed to awe as he found the face of the person in who's lap he'd been flung. Standing, unscathed, were two more girls. The first was more than likely the same age as the two guys. She was pretty with long, auburn hair and blue eyes which looked upon Ron with love and stern humor. The other girl was slightly younger, with red hair and brown eyes that matched Ron's, though her freckles appeared to have the inclination to stay with her throughout her life.

Luana saw the look Jessa was receiving from the dark haired guy, who got up and brushed himself off, offering a hand to Jessa as well. Jessa took it and righted herself, smiling her thanks and returning her attentions to the scene at hand. "Alright there, Harry?" Ron asked, giving his friend an amiable pat on the back.

"Wait a minute..Harry? Harry Potter? The Harry Potter!?"

This was from Jessalyn, as Luana would never allow herself such a display, even if she was impressed. Harry smiled bashfully and stuck out his hand in greeting. This was a pretty girl, staring at him, with golden brown hair and eyes that seemed to change color constantly. He was entranced. "Yes, I'm Harry Potter. This is my best friend Ron Weasley, my other best friend, his girlfriend, Hermione Granger..and his sister, Ginny Weasley." he said by way of introduction.

Jessa shook his hand, strange shivers running up and down her spine at his touch. Such beautiful green eyes. Christ, the stories she'd heard weren't nearly detailed enough. Luana rolled her eyes in disgust again. She knew who these people were, and as before, she was unimpressed with the Hero's of Hogwarts. She opened the crate containing her cat, a beige and white colored Scottish fold mix. He was quite striking, especially with his eyes the color of molten gold. Harry practically fell all over himself to help Jessa pick her owl cage from up off the floor and then lent a hand in soothing the poor creature.

"Well..I'm Jessalyn Longbottom, and this is _my_ best friend, Luana."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Harry said pleasantly.

"I wish I could say the same, but I'm afraid I'm not in a good mood."

Jessa snorted at the acidic remark.

"You're _never_ in a good mood. Don't mind her, she's just a bit protective..and hostile, but don't worry."

The other four stared at her, incredulously. Jessa just smiled sweetly as Luana mouthed behind her:"Be afraid, be very afraid." Ron and Harry glanced at one another, bewildered.

"Uhh...let's go and get on the train. C'mon Hermione..Ginny."

With that, Ron walked through the pillar between platforms nine and ten, with the two girls he was more familiar with following him. Harry showed Jessa and Luana the way through and they made their way to the Hogwart's Express.

Luana and Jessalyn settled into a train compartment with little difficulty. Jessa curled up in one seat with a popular, American magazine and a blanket before she finally dozed off. Luana looked up from her book every now and then to peer out the window at the green countryside. Now that she was out of the damned city, England wasn't looking so bad after all. She had magically enchanted her cd player to blast EMENIM withing the compartment. Jessa was unfazed by the crude lyrics as she slept. Luana was getting drowsy herself, when someone burst in, without knocking! Granted, even had they knocked there was no feasible way on earth she could have heard him, but she preferred to lay blame with the intruder. She didn't like to be interrupted, no matter how attractive the interrupter might be.

"That's it! I've had enough of this bloody ass and all his bloody whining! Now turn it down or turn it off!"

Luana arched a single brow in a look of interest. Was he really trying to tell her what to do? 'Trying' being the operative word in this case. She gave him a once over and cursed herself for the way her heart quickened its pace and her skin turned up the heat. He wasn't so much..ok, maybe he was. Tall, very tall, with wide shoulders, lean and muscled. His white blond hair was slicked back, and his eyes were sapphire flames, blazing with his evident fury. His handsome face was cold, locked in a look of constant stoicism; though now it was cracked slightly. Behind him came two larger, ugly lugs. They had the resemblance to gorillas really, and they were less than pleased as well.

"Excuse me? Would you mind running that all past me again? I'm afraid I wasn't listening." Luana drawled, blandly.

The young man's look narrowed and a sneer of disgust marred his sensual lips.

"You're one of the exchange students from _America_. I should have known."

He said "America" as if it were something slanderous and vile. Luana's ire rose; irritated as she already was with all these snotty English, she was ready to pounce on this one, and for more than one reason. Damnit! She was really pissed now. She was actually lusting after one of these punk-ass snots! In response to his comment, she turned the stereo up. Jessalyn stirred, but did not wake. Before she knew what happened, Luana watched as the blond whipped out an impressive wand and blew her cd player into a thousand little bits. EMINEM was abruptly silenced, causing Jessa to awaken. She took stock of the situation and sighed.

"Man...you really shouldn't have done that." she muttered tiredly.

Jessalyn waved an arm absently, as if she were batting away an annoying insect. What she really did; however, was create a shield around their compartment so that Luana's magic wouldn't hurt anyone other than her intended target. On the other hand, Luana was entirely too angry to remember the fact that she was a witch, let alone think of any spells. Her fist lashed out, which the blond readily ducked, causing said fist to connect with the meaty visage of one of his two goons. A sickening crunch echoed throughout the room, giving evidence to the fact that she had broken the young man's nose. He actually staggered back, as large as he was, his companion looking rather shocked himself. Jessa winced.

"You know that if we get expelled on our first day without even stepping foot on school grounds, that my parents, grandmother, and not to mention _your_ father are going to be really pissed?"

Jessa shuddered at the thought. When you coupled her formidable grandmother with Luana's dark father..it got a bit scary to say the least. The blond looked up, a long string of angry curses following Jessa's comment as she struggled to get over to his goon and patch him up. He didn't wince or balk at the blood which was streaming onto his robes, as Luana had expected. That was weird, for a wealthy, little snot, as he so obviously was. Those robes were designer, and made of only the beast fabric. Finally, the blond came back in, followed by the two gorillas who both tried charging through the door at the same time, getting themselves stuck for their troubles.

"Did you _see_ what that little bastard did to my cd player!? He's gonna die!" said Luana, her voice deadly calm.

Jessa sighed again and pulled out her wand. A few words of enchantment and the cd player was whole and well, blasting EMENIM again.

"This is first year stuff, really Luana. Ignore the preppy, Backstreet Boy wanna-be and _don't_ get us expelled again."

Luana frowned. "I wasn't the only one responsible for getting us expelled, remember?"

Jessa preferred not to remember such a thing, breathing a sigh of relief. The danger was over..well, almost. The blond was really ticked, and only seemed to get angrier as their exchange continued, as they were fairly well ignoring his existence. Of course, he could also have known who and what the Backstreet Boys were and took offense to that as well. Either way, after healing his friend, he pushed the thugs away from the door and turned back to Luana, grabbing her arm and turning her to face him.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Do you know who you're dealing with?"

Luana wrenched her arm from his grasp, her look utterly venomous. Jessa groaned as her friend and partner in crime, literally, dealt a fierce blow to the blond's stomach with a balled up fist. She met with muscle, and while he winced a bit, the young man was otherwise unmoved. Finally, she became frustrated enough that she reached up and caught him in a headlock.

"Do you think I care who you are? No, not really! As for who _you're_ dealing with; my name is Luana Zemirah Snape!"

"Like bloody hell it is!" came the blond, making a rather impressive maneuver and tossing Luana over his shoulder and to the ground. Coming out of the headlock, he stood up again. She only smirked. Impressive indeed.

"You fighting with Serverus Snape's daughter, you complete moron!" growled Jessa.

"Christ!" came the two goons, pulling their blond compatriot away before he could do any more damage. He wasn't as afraid as Luana would have liked him to be, but him leaving worked too.

"That was bloody brilliant, saying you're Snape's daughter and all." came Ron suddenly appearing at the door, Harry and Hermione in tow.

"Well...she _is_ after all. He visits every once in a while...a great while.." Jessa's speech faded as Luana's look became darker at the mention of her father.

She was, indeed, Snape's daughter, born just before Snape had a falling out with Voldemort. Her mother had been killed, something about proving Snape's loyalty, and she herself had been in Voldemort's care for several months. She had been rescued by Snape and Dumbledore, and they had both agreed that she should be hidden away in America until they could figure out why he had wanted her in the first place. She had seen little of her remaining parent since that time, as it seemed to anger him whenever he saw her.

"Well...you aren't in any need of our assistance. You handled Malfoy great on your own."

Luana smiled. They had just heightened their standing in her eyes. They had come to the rescue for no other reason other than the fact that they might have needed help. That was commendable.

"C'mon in..we could use the company." she said finally.

Jessa grinned happily. She liked it when Luana decided to make friends instead of enemies. Jessa liked these three anyway. They sat in the compartment for several hours, quickly becoming friends and acting as if they'd known each other most of their natural lives. The enjoyed much the same things, despite the fact that they had grown up a world apart, and they had faced many of the same challenges. It became apparent to the three friends that America had not been spared Voldemort's wrath, and so an even deeper connection between all five of them began to take root. Harry and Ron, with Herminone's technical knowledge, informed the two girls all about Hogwarts and it's inner workings. Teachers, classes, books, everything and anything was up for grabs as far as conversation topics went. EMENIM was still on, but at a lower volume. A mere hour away from the school, they noticed that it had gotten quite dark outside. Oddly, not even the moon or stars were visible.

Jessa, Luana, and Harry all stopped what they were doing at the same, precise instant. They felt the dark magic before it hit. The train's brakes were thrown, causing a deafening screech to resound throughout it's length. Everyone was thrown about in their compartments and screams went up in answer. Harry caught Jessa as she tumbled from her seat. Hermione shrieked, huddling against Ron, who had a hold of her and the seat, both in a death grip. Luana and Ron both cursed up a storm, as she rolled out of the compartment entirely and knocked against the opposite wall. There, outside, she found Malfoy, the achingly handsome blond she had fought earlier, struggling to push a crowd of first years into their compartment as they tried to panic.

"Get back in there, NOW! GO!" he yelled, shoving them in and closing the door securely.

Luana had gotten to her feet and caught his eyes, and they both knew what was about to happen, though they were too slow to do anything about it. The train groaned, having finally stopped, giving a terrible heave and was suddenly on it's side. Luana and Malfoy, the only ones caught out of their tiny rooms, crashed into windows, though they did not got through, and then they met the ceiling with two, resounding thuds. The train began rotating, over and over again, as if rolling down a hill. Luana, not knowing how she knew to do it, screamed an incantation and erected shields around all the compartments and strengthened the body of the train so that it wouldn't tear apart. Jessa was at the window of their compartment, beating on it and calling Luana's name fearfully. Luana was slung into another window, and then the floor. Malfoy cursed every time he landed against something. Luana then managed an amazing feat, landing on Malfoy himself, effectively knocking the breath out of them both. He caught hold of her, hanging onto her tightly. Pressing close, Luana understood his logic, together, they wouldn't get so terribly banged up.

"Hold on.." he whispered reassuringly.

Luana tingled as his breath met her ear. Christ almighty! This was a crisis situation and he was making her tingle!? Damn everything to hell and back! Nevertheless, she held on, burying her face in his shoulder as they tumbled, hitting things here and there, but not doing half as bad as they had been on their own. Finally, the train stopped it's death spin, ending up on one side. Luana opened her eyes experimentally. She and Malfoy were lying atop a pile of shattered glass, and she was currently on top of him. Both were breathing hard, and she was having trouble swallowing. Christ, why did he have to be all muscle? Why couldn't he have been as she had thought in the first place; a whiney, skinny, snot? Because God hated her, that's why.

She groaned softly, a sound that set Draco's blood afire. He couldn't look at her anymore, and he was a little more than concerned at the way his body was beginning to respond to her lovely weight and luscious body which resided on his own.

"Are you alright?" he asked hoarsely.

She swallowed finally, nodding. "Yes."

"Then get the HELL off me!"

His voice was angry, but pleading as well and she blinked widely, as if only just now realizing their position. She rolled off of him as quickly as was possible and hoped he hadn't been hurt. The movement caused her own, bruised body to scream in protest, but she ignored it, her only thought on her friends and how they had fared. She got to her feet, staggering and forgetting Malfoy's existence. She had to find Jessa. She found them all, lying in a heap in the compartment, though they were all relatively unharmed. She felt as swell of relief course throughout her and sunk to her knees.

It was dark, except the moon and stars seemed to have come out of hiding and were now burning brighter, ashamed of their cowardice, allowing everyone to see where they were going as those who were older checked on the survivors. There was still a bit of screaming from the youngest, which was quickly taken care of as the oldest went to comfort them. Now, where were they and how in the hell were they going to get to the school? Had the school been attacked too? Luana was suddenly fearful. Was her father alright? As much as she pretended to hate him, she really loved him and missed him immensely. Before she could think on it more, a voice rang out..well, a few did, but one was calling her name.

"LUANA! Where are you!!!"

Her eyes went wide. A rather large and hairy man made his way past her, calling out for Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Behind him was a tall, severe, and rather lanky man. Serverus Snape. He looked drawn and worried, his eyes searching the gloom for her. He caught sight of her, and they enveloped in a fierce hug at the exact same moment. He smelled just the way she remembered. Like the dungeons, with a little wolfsbane and sulfur. It might not be pleasant to most, but to her, it was her early childhood, her father. She felt safe in his arms, and he wrapped both around her in a crushing embrace. She gave as good as she got. He pulled back and caressed her face, looking her over critically.

"Are you alright? Where are you hurt?" he looked around again, without waiting for an answer. "Madame Pomfrey! Over here this minute!"

Luana knew that Pomfrey was the nurse at the school, from speaking with Harry and the others. She tugged her father's black robes, calling his attention back to her.

"I'm alright...a bit bruised, but otherwise unscathed." she assured him, just as a plump woman bustled over.

Snape nodded, then looked at Pomfrey. "What are you doing? There are hurt people all over the place!" he snapped, totally bewildering the poor woman.

Luana smiled softly as she was taken under her father's arm, not remembering the last time she had felt this comforting familiarity between them, but enjoying it nonetheless. Out of the train wreckage she was led, with her friends following close behind. She caught Jessa in a quick hug and grinned as Snape pulled her back into his protective arm, not about to let her out of his sight. Jessa smiled, bouncing excitedly. She'd been hoping father and daughter would get over the loss of the woman who had been wife and mother, and find their love again. It appeared that they had. It had only taken a near death experience to bring it around too! Unfortunately, this would only last as long as they were both relieved. Old feelings, old insecurities, and old hurts would be harder to put aside, but for the moment, at least they were talking. Jessa smirked and laughed quietly as Hermione took her in hand and began to inquire about her health and the like.

Soon, everyone had been gathered, and the teachers all banded together to do a group Apparate Spell, to bring them just outside the bounds of Hogwarts. It was quite the feat on it's own, but soon they were all safely within the walls of the school. Teachers immediately began to bustle about them, trying to sort first years from older years, as God forbid that anyone get sorted twice or not at all! The Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, who also happened to be Jessa's grandmother, raced in towards the crowded children and began searching for her granddaughter. Jessalyn Longbottom was Neville Longbottom's cousin, her father was his father's brother, her mother was McGonagall's daughter. If one really thought about it all long enough, it got rather confusing, so no one thought about it. Jessa's parents had been born in England, but had fled to America when Neville's parents had been attacked. They had offered to take Neville in as well, but his grandmother had been adamant that he stay with her. Jessa found her grandmother and hugged her fiercely, Harry, Ron and Hermione were just as stunned by this display as anything else. They merely looked at one another and shrugged, assuming that everything would be explained later.

Hurried into the Great Hall, everyone found themselves seated at their proper tables. The whole Hall was a dull drone of talking and worried assumptions. No one knew what had happened, and everyone was terrified of what had, had the power to turn over the Hogwarts Express! The last time the train had been breeched had been in Harry's third year, and the Dementors had merely boarded, not thrown the train down a hill! Speculations whirled around in a frenzy, and finally, Dumbledore stood up, his hands held out, calling for silence. Slowly, the Hall stilled. His voice came out, a powerful sounding man despite his age and build. It was full of calm authority.

"Everyone, please.." he began; "The tragedy that befell you today was the work of terrible, dark magic. It appears that no one was mortally wounded, a miracle in itself. We do not know who the culprit was, but the Ministry has been notified and they are sending investigators as we speak. I only ask that you take a few moments, collect yourselves, and then we will begin the Sorting, and the feast, as usual."

This was, by far, the longest Dumbledore had spoken, at the beginning of the year, to anyone's recollection. A few moments passed where everyone seemed to recover their wits and they all sat quietly. The first years were lined up, several teachers among them, comforting them, promising that the students would be allowed to converse with their families soon. Snape had left Luana to sit at the high table, and she looked over to Jessalyn.

"What's this whole Sorting thing about, again?" she demanded.

Jessa explained about the four houses and that each new student, usually first years, were divided between them. Luana nodded a bit and pursed her lips in annoyance. She knew of one house, Slytherin, because that was the House her father held dominion over. She supposed, she would be in that House.

Eventually, the Sorting Hat was brought out, and it began its usual singing number. Luana stared at it, dumbstruck. It was going through the Houses, naming their attributes as it did, but Luana opened her mouth in the middle of the song and exclaimed; "Hufflepuff! What the-"

"Luana!" came Jessa warningly. Luana controlled herself and her words, before proceeding. "What the -heck- is a Hufflepuff!?"

The hat had actually been interrupted, and the whole gathering was silenced. No one, nothing had ever cut the Sorting Hat off in the middle of its song. Luana blinked again and peered at the stricken faces around her. She cleared her throat and stepped back into line, behind Jessa, who was shaking her head. "You can't just let things go, can you?" she asked of her friend.

The Hat resumed, finishing its song, and then the first years began to go up and place the hat on their heads. Luana lifted a lip. "They want me to put that old, ratty-" she began again. She was halted in her words by a sharp dig in her ribs, made by Jessa's elbow. Luana silenced herself this time and watched with an impassive face. Finally, it came down to the last two, the exchange students. Jessa went first, sitting upon the stool and placing the hat upon her head. She sighed a little, looking resigned to her fate, whatever it might be.

"GRYFFINDOR!" was shouted by the hat, and Luana jumped.

Jessa looked absolutely delighted, as if her worst fears had been dashed away by that simple, and to Luana, nonsensical, word. Luana took her place on the stool then. If Jessa went to Gryffindor, then obviously, so would Luana. Putting the hat on her head, she sat there and waited for the inevitable. She and Jessa had never been separated, they belonged together. At her name, there were many whispers and people looked at her with something akin to shock. Apparently, it wasn't widely known that Snape had, had a daughter. Well, from what she could remember, this didn't surprise her. She frowned a little, waiting some more. The Hat was muttering to itself inside her head, and she was growing agitated. "Just pick somewhere..anywhere but Hufflepuffle..or whatever they are." she said, irritably.

"Hah..as if you've a kind and accepting heart." the Hat retorted, and before Luana could think of a decent comeback, it shouted; "SLYTHERIN!"

It took a moment for the choice the hat had made to settle in her mind. Then, Luana ripped the thing off her head and stood up, looking livid. In fact, Snape looked angry, much more angry than she ever remembered him being before. "That's not right!" Luana raged.

She was supposed to be in Gyffindor, with Jessa..and Harry, Ron, and Hermione! She was not supposed to be in a House with..her eyes scanned the Slytherin table. Oh God help her. Draco was sitting in that table..of course he was. Never before had Luana been so keen to throw a childish temper tantrum. She clenched her fists to her sides and glared dangerously at the hat.

"You take that back..or I'll...I'll...I'll soak you in a bucket of bleach!"

Her threat had little effect. Professor McGonagall was at her side, patting her shoulders comfortingly. "It's alright dear, the Sorting Hat always has reasons for where it puts the students..and its only for a year."

Jessa looked worried, watching Luana tremble with suppressed rage as she was led over to the Slytherin table. The Slytherins appeared overjoyed, new meat. Ron shook his head, on the other side of Harry. "Bad luck, that." he commented. Jessa snorted a little. "Yeah, for them."


End file.
